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# Agricultural soil microbiomes are structurally and functionally more resistant to warming than adjacent natural ecosystems

## Details

**Authors** Shuo Jiao, Haibo Pan, Pablo García-Palacios, Hairong Tu, Yi-Ran Zhang, Yu Liu, Hang Gao, Beibei Chen, Zi-Heng Peng, Shi Chen, et al.

**Year** 2026

**Publisher** Nature Food

**Kind of work** article

**Discipline** Agriculture & Food

**Secondary disciplines** Ecology

**Applied** false

[Read it at the publisher](https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-026-01348-7) 
10.1038/s43016-026-01348-7

## In authors' words

### Abstract

Agricultural soil microbiomes experience frequent disturbance from intensive management and may therefore be better equipped to withstand climate warming than microbiomes in undisturbed natural soils. Here we test this by combining a continental-scale warming microcosm experiment across 100 paired agricultural–natural sites with a global meta-analysis and three microbiome manipulation experiments (microbial suspensions, cross-inoculation and synthetic communities). Agricultural soils showed a higher resistance of soil multifunctionality to warming than natural soils, consistent across the meta-analysis. Resistance of microbial community composition was the strongest predictor of functional resistance and was confirmed in artificial soils inoculated with agricultural versus natural microbial suspensions. Introducing soil microbiomes from agricultural ecosystems into previously undisturbed natural soils enhanced functional resistance to warming. Metagenomic analysis revealed that microbial life-history strategies play a crucial role in regulating the resistance of soil microbial community to warming, with communities dominated by stress-tolerant strategies conferring significantly stronger resistance. Our work highlights the potential of microbiome engineering to strengthen ecosystem functioning under climate change.

### What they set out to do (purpose)

To test whether agricultural soil microbiomes, shaped by frequent management disturbance, are more resistant to climate warming than microbiomes in adjacent undisturbed natural soils.

### Who or what was studied (sample)

100 paired agricultural–natural sites in a continental-scale warming microcosm experiment, supplemented by a global meta-analysis and three microbiome manipulation experiments (microbial suspensions, cross-inoculation, and synthetic communities).

### How they did it (methods)

Paired-site warming microcosm experiment combined with global meta-analysis and inoculation/transplant validation experiments, plus metagenomic analysis of microbial life-history strategies.

### What they found (results)

Agricultural soils showed significantly greater resistance of microbial community composition and ecosystem multifunctionality to experimental warming than adjacent natural soils, and transplanting agricultural microbiomes into natural soils increased the latter's warming resistance, with communities dominated by stress-tolerant microbial life-history strategies conferring the strongest resistance.

## Commentary

### In short

The findings show how the composition of microbial parts within a soil system shapes the resistance of the whole ecosystem's functioning to warming, with the agricultural/natural distinction marking systematically different outcomes and cross-inoculation demonstrating the causal role of community composition.

**Patterns it shows** D, S, R

**Added** 2026-09-19

**How to cite this** Shuo Jiao, Haibo Pan, Pablo García-Palacios, Hairong Tu, Yi-Ran Zhang, Yu Liu, Hang Gao, Beibei Chen, Zi-Heng Peng, Shi Chen, et al. (2026). Agricultural soil microbiomes are structurally and functionally more resistant to warming than adjacent natural ecosystems. Nature Food.